URGENT: Planning Committee Date

The application for 32 houses on Hawarden Road will be heard by the planning committee at County Hall on the 26th July at 1:00pm.

If you are able to get there to show your support, you would be very welcome. We do not yet know whether the committee will visit the site.

UPDATE: We understand that Flintshire planning officers are recommending APPROVAL of this application.

We have raised a number of objections about this application - one of the most important is that if it goes ahead it will create a pocket between the Groves estate and the new development which will leave a field (which we know the landowner is ready to develop) surrounded by houses on three sides and the bypass on the other - this will surely become 'infill' for housing - meaning a further 100 homes.

Quick Recap on what's happening to the village...

- plans for 40 new homes have been approved on Rhos Road (north)
- plans for 186 homes on Chester Road were rejected by committee but are under appeal (the appeal will be heard at public inquiry in November)
- plans for 32 apartments on Rhos Road South have been in public consultation and we are awaiting the planning application (we expect them to be waiting for this decision)

These applications are following the rapid building of the two sites at the Groves and White Lion sites which, together with Meadowslea, make Penyffordd the highest growth settlement in Flintshire.

There are dozens more sites around the village which have an interest expressed for housing development - these should be considered as part of the LDP process. We would like no further development until that process starts, in the next 6 to 9 months.
 

New School - Feedback Information

If you would like to feedback about the school plans, designs, traffic or anything else, these are the contact details:

ONLINE
http://www.flintshire.gov.uk/en/Resident/Schools/School-Modernisation-Related/Ysgol-Penyffordd.aspx

EMAIL (to Flintshire County Council):
21stcenturyschools@flintshire.gov.uk,

POST
21st Century Schools
Flintshire County Council
County Hall,
Raikes Lane,
Mold,
Flintshire, CH7 6NA

Wynne Construction,
Charles House,
Kinmel Park,
Bodelwyddddddan,
LL18 5TY

A little bit of hope

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Northop had some positive news this week, one of the planning applications they were opposing, for 17 homes, has been refused permission by the Planning Inspector.

The original application was recommended for refusal by the Flintshire planning officer and was refused permission by the planning Committee in November, before it was appealed.

This is only the second case in Wrexham and Flintshire where the inspector has refused permission and, significantly, follows the original officers' recommendation.

The current appeal by Redrow was also recommended for refusal by the original planning officer. The next test case is the upcoming appeal for 47 houses in Rossett - there is a public inquiry in July.

This map shows the current status on planning applications and appeals in the borderlands area - note the addition of 100 houses in Buckley (more info here) which is in the pre-application stage.

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This is the proposed New School...

...what do you think?

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The school will be on the existing Abbots Lane school site and will replace the current Abbots Lane and Junior school (on Penymynydd Road) These are the key facts from the Flintshire County Council website - are you happy that the designs match up?:

• New build Primary School to accommodate 315 Full Time Pupils and a 45 FTE place Nursery on the Abbott’s Lane site.
• Design of the school includes: Classroom for Foundation Phase and Key Stage 2; Hall and Studio facilities; community room; grassed sports field area; multi-use sports pitch; habitat and recreational areas; improved staff and visitor car parking and drop off zone for parents/carers.
• Increased staff and visitor car parking with dedicated drop off zone for parents/carers.
• Future proofed design to accommodate classrooms extensions should there an increase of learners in the area.
• Thoughtful school design to blend into the community.

The full planning application with designs, interior layouts and environmental impact are on the Flintshire website here >>>

There is not currently a transport plan other than the provision for drop off spaces within the car park. The school is currently conducting a survey about it - respond here

The designs are in a pre-application consultation phase before they are submitted to planning. If you have comments please email team@penyfforddcommunity.org and we will pass them onto the schools team and councillors.

This is a video of the exterior:

365 Homes Approved in Llay appeal - What it could mean for Penymynydd

This week Welsh First Minister approved an application for the building of 365 homes on fields outside Llay. The application had been recommended for approval by Wrexham planning officers then refused after public objections by the Wrexham planning committee. The developer appealed the refusal and the planning inspector recommended approval. The final decision would normally have been made by Lesley Griffiths AM, the minister responsible for planning, but because she represents Wrexham, the First Minister acted in her place.

News story about the appeal decision

The Llay objections included impact on schools, healthcare and traffic as well as the legitimate planning objections that the proposal was outside of the settlement boundary and represented too much growth. The proposal includes a shop and 30% affordable housing. We admire and applaud the large campaign in Llay and look on with sadness at the final outcome.

How does that affect the Redrow appeal?

The tally of approvals on appeal by the inspector, where 'housing supply' is cited as the primary reason, in our borderlands area, is now:

597 homes approved
2 homes refused

That is a bad scorecard but the Redrow appeal is different than all of those lost on appeal, for these reasons:

1. The Flintshire planning officer recommended refusal.
The Flintshire planners reviewed all of the evidence and concluded that, for planning reasons, it should not go ahead. The planning committee agreed when they voted. In all of these other local cases, the planning officers have recommended approval and the committee have voted against them.

2. Penyffordd has been over-developed already
It is a matter of fact that the village has grown significantly (27% is the agreed figure), most of it in the last 5 years. Investment in infrastructure has not had time to keep pace.

3. It is Unsustainable
The village, through the questionnaire and individual submissions, has demonstrated the harm that has so far been caused by recent developments. The evidence has satisfied Flintshire planners that further growth on this scale is unsustainable.

4. TAN1 Clarification
Although the appeal decision has only just been released, the inquiry was in November last year, before clarification was issued on the interpretation of TAN1 - the loophole enabling these speculative developments - by Lesley Griffiths AM to planning departments, the inspectorate and developers. That clarification is not, therefore, been likely to have been considered in this appeal.

5. Place Plan
We have prepared a village Place Plan which defines how the community want the village to grow in the future - in small increments, with appropriate types of housing.

If you haven't already, please add your name to the petition to have our Plan adopted by Flintshire County Council:

What more can we do?

One of the notable comments by the inspector in Llay was in reference to the local Health and Education authorities - the Health authority did not respond to the application, they made no comment. The Education authority raised no objection. We can lobby to ensure that these statutory bodies assure us of improved services for existing and future residents in the event that the appeal is successful - their not commenting is not acceptable to anyone.

We must remain strong and continue our united objection until the inquiry in November.

Thank you for your continued support.

New School - Important Update

Wynne Construction with Aaron Shotton from Flintshire County Council at the School

News update on the new Abbots Lane school.

Flintshire County Council have:
- published a newsletter about the school build - view the newsletter here

- appointed a contractor, Wynne Construction
News release from FCC here
- announced a date for public consultation of the plans - 11th July 3:30 - 7:00pm at Abbots Lane

These are the key facts about the new school:

• New build Primary School to accommodate 315 Full Time Pupils and a 45 FTE place Nursery on the Abbott’s Lane site.
• Design of the school includes: Classroom for Foundation Phase and Key Stage 2; Hall and Studio facilities; community room; grassed sports field area; multi-use sports pitch; habitat and recreational areas; improved staff and visitor car parking and drop off zone for parents/carers.
• Increased staff and visitor car parking with dedicated drop off zone for parents/carers.
• Future proofed design to accommodate classrooms extensions should there an increase of learners in the area.
• Thoughtful school design to blend into the community.

We asked the Council about the traffic and access plans, they are not covered in this first newsletter, and this is what they explained was happening:

"...we are currently supporting the head on developing a revised travel plan for the school, additionally a Transport Impact Assessment (TIA) will be completed to assess the traffic impact of the new build on the area, and review impact of parking, pupil drop-off/pick up, traffic generation, access arrangements and site accessibility by sustainable methods of travel. – on the first newsletter we touch on the positives that the build brings in relation to increased car parking provision and a dedicated drop off zone for parents/carers but we don’t go into great detail with it being the first newsletter, the TIA process can be explained with further newsletters or if required a specific Q&A as we progress through the build."

You can follow the schools development team at Flintshire County Council on Twitter.

Public Meeting - Local Plan Launch

Monday 5th June - 7:00pm Penyffordd Legion

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Plan highlights

Come along to the Legion to hear the highlights of the Local Plan - it sets out what the community wants to happen to the village in the next 15 years - this affects everyone who lives and works in the village.

- new school
- road network
- community buildings
- housing
- cement factory growth

Please come along and find out what it is all about.

Thank you

Half Term Parents and Families Workshop

Half term parents and families workshop (FREE TEA AND CAKE)
The Institute, Friday 2nd June 10-12am.

Artists impression of a new Primary school in Wrexham - could be similar to what we can expect on Abbots Lane?

The Community Plan is taking shape thanks to your responses to the questionnaire, but we need MORE input from parents of children that go to, or plan to go to school in the village. School places are now limited, we are being told that some village children are not being offered a place at Abbots Lane this intake!!!

In addition a new school is being built in the village and you've told us through the questionnaire of your concerns issues and more, and we all feel the pain of parking! Let's get your issues into the plan and we can do something about it.

We are also really keen to hear about issues St Johns parents have!!

There's lots of issues that the Community Plan will help to address now and in years to come, but we need the parents of school children in the village to have their say on the big things that are affecting them now, and also to understand your concerns for the future.

Please share this with every parent you know and please pop along for 10 minutes and let us know your thoughts on all things in the village that affect you and your family. We have created this in half term to reach as many people as possible and we'd love to meet you all and your children and to share with you the proposed Community Plan that will ensure FCC are understand the specific needs of our lovely village.

I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible, there will also be FREE tea and cake.

Clare

REDROW APPEAL!

As we expected, Redrow have appealed the planning committee decision to refuse their application.

It has been reported in the Evening Leader. 

The appeal is handled by the independent Planning Inspectorate, who wrote to us recently to remind us that they can only consider the evidence put before them. Our role, as a community, is to provide them with that evidence.

Redrow chose not to attend the planning committee, we will ensure that the village is fully represented in this appeal process.

Once we have details of the appeal timeline, we will post updates. In the meantime, if you have evidence of how you are being affected in the village - particularly with drains, water, internet, traffic, bus services, doctors etc. - please get in touch.

Thank you.

Hanson Cement Public Exhibition

The plans suggest a significant investment in a new mill, contained within a new building, and the removal of 3 of the 4 existing mills. An increase in production activity overall, a reduction in road traffic and an increase in rail traffic.

Hanson is holding public exhibitions to explain their expansion plans to local residents on Tuesday May 23 at Buckley Library and on Wednesday May 24 at Penyffordd British Legion Club, both 3.30pm to 7pm.